ESOPUS MAGAZINE ::: Archive

ESOPUS CD #4: IMAGINARY FRIENDS

Several months before going to press, we sent an email inviting Esopus subscribers to submit descriptions of their imaginary childhood friends. We then passed along the 25 we received (describing everything from distinctly human activity pals to vaguely threatening letters of the alphabet) to 13 musicians, each of whom chose one friend as inspiration for a song. Read all of the descriptions.

TRACK LIST:

1. The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, “Lisa”
2. Tim'm T. West, “Brown Buick, Brown House”
3. Vetiver, “Quiri Quirano”
4. Kimya Dawson, “The Competition”
5. Solex, “Little Doo Dootz”
6. Kate Pierson & Pat Irwin, “ Bunnies”
7. Jon Langford, “W”
8. Ruth Gerson, “Kibby, Zocky Merino, and the Man with the Moustache”
9. Grant Hart, “Barbara”
10. Avey Tare, “Judy Biworker”
11. JFK, “Henny-Penny”
12. Tara Jane ONeil,“Delores”
13. The Caulfield Sisters, “Judy”

MUSICIANS' BIOS:

Avey Tare (a.k.a. Dave Portner) is a member of the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Maryland band Animal Collective. The group has released five albums in as many years, including 2000’s Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished and 2003’s Here Comes the Indian, and has also founded its own imprint, Paw Tracks Records. Last year’s Sung Tongs was released on FatCat Records.
www.pawtracks.com

After the breakup of their band Pee Shy, Cindy Wheeler and Mary Guidera recruited friend Kristen Mueller to form The Caulfield Sisters, a Brooklyn-based trio that recently released its first EP, Say It With Fire. www.myspace.com/thecaulfieldsisters

Kimya Dawson is both a solo artist and one half of New York cartoon-folk troupe, The Moldy Peaches, whose self-titled debut came out in 2001, followed by Unreleased Cutz and Live Jamz in 2003. Dawson’s most recent record, The Hidden Vagenda, was released on K Records in 2004.
www.kimyadawson.com

New York–based folksinger Ruth Gerson has released five albums, including Very Live (1995), Fools and Kings (1997), and 2004’s Wake to Echo. She is a veteran of the Newport Folk Festival, CMJ, and SXSW, and her Living Room Concerts have generated $35,000 for charitable causes worldwide. Gerson recently played the female lead in the Swiss-Italian film Promised Land, slated for European release this year. www.ruthgerson.com

Cofounder in 1979 of the legendary St. Paul, MN, band Hüsker Dü (whose albums include 1984’s Zen Arcade and 1985’s New Day Rising), musician, poet, and visual artist Grant Hart has released four solo records on Pachyderm Records since 1987, including Intolerance (1988) and Good News for Modern Man (2000). Hart was also a founder of the trio Nova Mob, whose records include a recording of his rock opera The Last Days of Pompeii. www.granthart.com

J.F.K. is the brainchild of indie-music mainstays Kim Rancourt, a promoter and member of the covers band When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water; Don Fleming, who has produced records by Teenage Fanclub, Sonic Youth, Hole, and Nancy Sinatra; and Andrew W.K., a longtime contributor to the Detroit music scene and solo artist whose albums include I Get Wet and The Wolf.
www.instantmayhem.com
www.andrewwk.com

A founder of the Leeds, England–based punk group the Mekons (whose 20-odd albums include 1979’s Fast Product, 1985’s Fear and Whiskey, 1991’s Curse of the Mekons and last year’s Punk Rock), Jon Langford is a member of the Waco Brothers and Three Johns. All the Fame of Lofty Deeds, his seventh solo album, was released in 2004 on Bloodshot Records. Langford, who is also a painter and a comic-strip artist, lives in Chicago.
www.mekons.de

Portland, OR–based Tara Jane ONeil has been recording and touring solo and as a member of the bands Rodan, Retsin, and The Sonora Pine for over a decade. Her most recent album, You Sound, Reflect, was released on Quarterstick Records in 2004.
www.tarajaneoneil.com

Kate Pierson and Pat Irwin are members of the iconic New Wave band the B-52’s, whose albums include Wild Planet (1980), Whammy! (1983) and 1989’s Cosmic Thing. Pierson, one of the band’s cofounders, lives near Woodstock, NY, and has also collaborated with R.E.M., Iggy Pop, Matthew Sweet, and the Ramones; she recently completed work on her first solo album. Irwin joined the group in 1989; previously, he was a member of the Raybeats and 8-Eyed Spy. A composer of soundtracks for dance, theater, television, and film, he has also produced recordings for Lydia Lunch, Love Tractor, and Deborah Iyall. The B-52’s are currently at work on a new album. www.theb52s.com

Perry Wright is the driving force behind The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, a rotating group of Durham, NC–based musicians. The band’s album, The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia, was released this spring on Bu Hanan Records.
www.prayersandtears.com

Solex is Elisabeth Esselink, an Amsterdam-based record-store owner whose vivid, eclectic musical collages have been featured on three albums for the Matador label, as well as on last year’s The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock, released in the U.S. by Arena Rock Records. www.solex.net

San Francisco–based Vetiver is headed by singer/songwriter Andy Cabic. The group’s eponymous debut, released in 2004 on DiCristina Records, featured guest appearances by Devendra Banhardt, Hope Sandoval, and Joanna Newsom.
www.vetiverse.com

Tim’m T. West released his debut solo album, Songs from Red Dirt, as well as a collection of essays and poetry, Red Dirt Revival, in 2004. Currently based in Washington, D.C., where he coordinates HIV prevention and outreach programs, West (a.k.a. 25percenter) is also a member of Deep Dickollective, a rap group that released The Famous Outlaw League Of Proto-Negroes in 2003.
www.reddirt.biz